The Boy Behind The Mask
by moidnighteye16142
Summary: Ever since he joined firehouse 51 Matt has been hiding something from his friends. But with the arrival of his stepfather will the secrets about his past that he has fought so hard to keep finally be revealed? Warnings inside
1. Chapter 1 - The Visitor

**Hi thanks for reading this story. This is just the first chapter and I've written about half of it at this point. Please leave a review and I'll update this either on Sunday or Wednesday but I'm in the middle of my GCSE's now so it might be a bit sporadic for a little while****…anyways enjoy!**

It was a quiet Saturday on shift and Otis, Mouch and Hermann were sitting on the couch at the coffee table in the living room gathered around the television watching a football game disappointed at the score so far, the rest of the squad and the truck team were scattered around various places in the room with their feet up, relaxing, glad to have a moment's peace. Suddenly there was a knock at the partition door to the room the fire-fighters used for their downtime, disturbing the well deserved peace. Mills got up from his spot and went to the open door muttering angrily under his breath about missing part of the game. As he went to the doorway he caught sight of the man before him half hidden by around the corner, blocking the hallway with his 6"4 frame and muscled body. The man before him looked to be in his mid-fifties with his partially greyed hair.

'Hey,' said the man, reaching out his hand for Mills to shake 'I'm Callum Henderson.'

'Hi,' replied Mills shaking Callum's outstretched hand before him 'My name is Peter Mills. Do you need any help with something?'

'Um, well I was wondering if you know a guy by the name of Matthew Casey?'

'Yeah I do, what do you want with Casey?' asked Mills confused as to why this man wanted to find his lieutenant.

'Well, I have been trying to find him for a while, I heard he was in the area so I asked around and some guy told me that this was where he worked so was he wrong? Or can you tell me where he is?' inquired Callum.

'Yeah he does work here,' answered Mills with a puzzled look on his face 'What do you want with Casey?' On hearing this Severide and the rest of truck approached Mills and stood behind him, backing him up.

'He's a lieutenant here, why did you say you needed to see him?' asked Kelly just as confused as Mills was.

'Wait, um,' Callum chuckled 'He's a lieutenant. Doesn't that mean he's in charge of like a whole team.'

'What's so funny about him being a lieutenant? Huh?' asked Kelly angry at the tone he was hearing from the man before him. 'What do you want with Matt? Has he done something?'

The smile gradually faded from Callum's face as he heard this.

'Now, are you going to tell us what you want with Casey?' said Kelly getting more aggravated at the situation by the second.

'I just want to talk to him!' replied an irritated Callum.

'Yeah we get that, but why?' asked Cruz curiously.

'Well maybe because he's my stepson!' exclaimed Callum angrily.

After the initial shock of their discovery Kelly, Callum and Mouch settled down on the couch opposite to the television which the football game was still blaring out of. Once they had all settled down all the fire-fighters in the room turned and looked to Callum waiting for answers at his sudden reappearance in his stepson's life.

'I married Matt's mother when he was four just after his parents got a divorce, I was like a real father to that kid. I looked out for him his whole life, I even took full custody of him after his mother killed his father and he had no-one else.' explained Callum.

'So how come Matt never even bothered to tell us about you and why are you only just here now after this time?' asked Kelly who was still having doubts about why Callum had made a sudden return to Casey's life.

'He ran away just the summer after he was finished with high school and I never saw him again, so when I heard from one of his old friends that he had joined the CFD after he left I came looking for him and I've been trying to find him ever since but Chicago is a pretty big place.' said Callum.

'If you were such a great father to him then why did he run away? Explain that to me!' demanded Kelly still not entirely believing of Callum's story.

'Matthew never really got along with me,' said Callum, 'His mom, she got into the habit of drinking too much after her divorce from his father and I guess he blamed me for not getting her to stop especially after she killed his father three months before he was going to turn seven. After that he wanted to live with his sister but she was only in her freshman year of college and she couldn't take him on, I was the one who told him that and I guess he thought that I was the one whose fault it was that he wasn't going to be let to go and live with her. He always blamed me for that, apparently she was drunk when she killed his father and the reason that she was drinking was because me and her had just had a massive argument, and that among other things meant that he blamed me for everything that happened after that. It's my biggest regret that, letting her go and get into that car and watching her drive off down the road without stopping her not knowing that she was going to shoot his father and got to prison for the next fifteen years. But if I could change it I would, because then I wouldn't have had to explain to a seven year old boy that his father was dead and his mother was being sent to prison for killing him.'

'Oh, I'm sorry, we didn't know about that…' stuttered Kelly apologetically mentally kicking himself for not taking the situation with Casey's parents into account whilst berating Callum.

'It's alright, now could you just tell me where he is or whether he'll be coming in here any time soon?' asked Callum.

'Yeah,' answered Kelly, coming to his senses. 'I just saw him in his office doing paperwork like two minutes ago so he'll be on his way, he was going to come in here anyway to watch the game so he should be back in a couple of minutes.'

Five minutes later on the dot they heard Casey's footsteps coming around the corner towards them. When he walked through the doorway and saw all of squad and truck sitting around the main room waiting for him and staring at him he could immediately tell that something was wrong.

'Hey guys, um…what's going on? I didn't tie Cruz's shoelaces together, that was Otis this time.' defended Matt.

'Uh…no that's not what this is about, but really Otis, again?' exclaimed Cruz as Otis shrugged in his defence.

Just then Callum walked out of the bathroom into the room and caught sight of his stepson standing in the middle of the room confused by what appeared to be a team meeting taking place in the firehouse's main living room.

'Well hello Matthew,' said Callum 'Long time no see.'

Casey turned to try to see the source of the voice and when his eyes landed on his stepfather standing at the entrance to the hallway his face changed to a ghostly pallor.


	2. Chapter 2 - The Scar

**Hey guys as promised here is the new chapter. It's a bit shorter but I hope you like it anyway. Thanks for the reviews and follows!**

'Cal…Callum, um what are you doing here?' stuttered Matt fearfully.

When Kelly and the rest of the fire-fighters saw the look on Casey's face when he saw his stepfather they could all tell that something had gone terribly wrong between Matt and Callum to cause him to run away from home, despite the story that Callum had told them about their familial situation and why he was only just finding Matt now.

'Callum,' said Kelly 'Can you just give me some time alone with Matt please, we just need to discuss the situation is that alright with you?'

'Yeah…sure,' he replied 'I've got to go set up a place to stay anyway, but I'll see you all later, in fact I'm looking forward to it son.'

'What?' exclaimed Casey feeling both surprised and horrified at Callum's statement. 'You're staying here! For how long?'

Callum approached Casey who shrank backwards towards the kitchen counter. 'Yes I am Matthew, I'll be staying as long as I like, do you have a problem with that?'

'Um no of…of course not it's fine with me, there's no problem, none at all.' Said Matt who by this point looked close to tears.

'Well I'll see you later then, son.' Replied Callum as he walked out of the doorway to firehouse 51.

As soon as Callum had left the house Matt crouched down to the floor with his head tucked into his knees and began to violently shake as he took in what had just occurred, shocking those around him his facial appearance looked like that of a person who had seen a ghost. Kelly went over to Matt and tried to put a comforting arm around him but was met by his best friend flinching out of his arms and away from him violently at his touch.

'Hey Matt,' he said soothingly 'It's just me, Kelly, come on, look at me.'

Slowly but surely Matt opened his ocean blue eyes which were by now brimming with the tears which clouded them over threatening to spill at any moment. As he looked up at one of his oldest friends he saw the confusion and hurt shading in his eyes. After seeing this he uncurled himself from his ball-shaped position on the floor where he had been crouching and began to make his way over to the front door in the hopes of getting out of the fire house without facing any of the barrage of questions from his friends about his past with his stepfather that he was sure were coming his way.

'I've got to go.' He muttered shakily as he attempted to exit the room and retreat to his office until the end of the shift.

'Oh no you don't, you're not leaving the house right now…' said Kelly taking his best friend by the arm and leading him over to the couch where Hermann was sitting. As Chief Boden watched the scene of care between the two lieutenants, who had once been sworn enemies, unfold from his spot in the hallway unfold pride swelling from within him. As soon as Casey had sat down on the couch beside Hermann, Kelly joined him on the other side and put his arms around his friend's smaller shoulders and pretended not to notice when Matt flinched away from him for the second time that day afraid of the slightest touch even if it was a comforting gesture. Matt then began to cry in earnest, his body wracked with sobs as he whimpered at the strong embrace, soaking Kelly's t-shirt with his tears whilst his fellow fire-fighters and closest friends looked on shocked and shared worried looks between them as they saw one of their own was so hurt by the arrival of one of his so-called parents. After around a half an hour Matt's sobs had broken down and soon all Severide, Boden and Casey were seated around the coffee table next to the couch.

'Matt,' said Boden in a comforting tone 'What happened between Callum and you, he told us that he was your stepdad but you never mentioned any of that to us. You need to tell us what's going on with you, I can tell that something happened between the two of you. Why are you so scared of him?'

'No!' Snapped Matt back at Boden sharply 'I can't.'

'Yes, yes you can,' urged on Kelly 'We're your family you can tell us anything, just take your time, you are still our brother no matter what, okay, I just want you to remember that.'

Casey leant forward a bit to pick up his phone, which he had dropped in the shock of the moment and had been placed back on the table by one of his men, in the hopes of getting some sort of distraction from what he knew was coming if he started talking about what had happened between him and Callum in the past. As he leant forward the back of his shirt rode up a little and that was when the chief saw it. That's when he saw the scar that marred his young lieutenant's skin, it wasn't the sort of scar that someone could get from any sort of operation or accident at a fire, Boden knew from previous experience that there was only one type of object that could make the kind of scar that marked the young fire-fighter's skin, he knew that the scar was from a belt. When Boden realised this his whole body was filled with rage at the thought of someone hitting his young, hardworking and caring employee with a belt when he was just a little kid, the thought of someone placing their rage on an innocent kid, on his youngest lieutenant, made him want to go out and hunt down the person and make them pay for what they did to him.

Matt looked up for a second and caught sight of the chief who appeared to be staring at his back, suddenly he realised exactly what Boden must have been staring at and yanked down the back of his shirt immediately trying to hide the exposed mark on his skin but not before his actions had caught the attention of his best friend Kelly.

'Matt,' said Boden sternly, still staring at the young man 'lift up your shirt.'


	3. Chapter 3 - The Reveal

**Thanks for the reviews and follows they're keeping my going through my exams so keep them coming! I'll update again on Saturday.**

'Matt,' said Boden sternly, still staring intensely at the young man who he considered to be something of a son to him, 'lift up your shirt.'

Casey gulped audibly and shook his head vigorously trying to shake off the worried advances of his chief and role model.

'Casey do it, now,' ordered Kelly firmly, his eyes stony and his face expressionless and seemingly cold as he tried to hide his true feelings of anger and horror. He tried to hide the fury he felt about the fact that a man that he had apologised to just less than an hour before, might just be the sort of man who had beaten his defenceless stepson. The fact that the kid had been Matt, the most compassionate and caring person he knew, who always made everyone feel safe even in a crisis, the guy who made you as if nothing could happen to you because if it did he would do anything to stop it, he would take a bullet for a stranger just because it was the right thing to do and still stay modest and humble, the fact that it was Matt, his Matt, made it all the more horrifying. 'Do it Matt or I will do it for you.'

Matt slowly stood up, realising there was no refusing and he turned to face the two older men. Slowly Casey began pulling up at the grey fabric of his CFD polo shirt and then he took off the rest of the material from his body. As he did this he attempted to cover himself from the gaze of his concerned friends and he prayed that Kelly and Boden wouldn't make him turn around so his fellow fire-fighters wouldn't be able to see his scars and reveal what scars he really had.

'Matt, turn around.' Commanded Severide in an authoritative voice.

Casey silently begged that Kelly wouldn't make him do it, pleading with his eyes but only receiving a stern glare in return. He gulped for a second time, hesitating and then he shoved his hands into his trouser pockets and turned around, he revealed the horrific scars on his back from belts and cigarette burns. He heard a collective gasp from his worried colleagues as they stared at his back, unable to tear their eyes away from the scars of his tortured existence as a child. The special hell that he had endured as a young boy in his non-existent childhood, when he was too scared to move or breathe for fear of being hurt and beaten if he did the slightest thing wrong or moved even an inch.

After twenty seconds Matt had had enough, he grabbed his shirt back from Kelly's limp hand roughly and began pulling it up again over his head quickly trying to cover his marred skin with the fabric as he grimaced at the pain of pulling at the old healed wounds that had gone untreated by anyone but himself as Callum had refused to take him to hospital unless the beating had been serious enough to make him become unconscious from the pain and trauma to his small and fragile body. Finally after what seemed like forever Boden went over to Matt who was still trying to do up the buttons on his shirt with his trembling hands, Boden steadied Matt's hands gently and helped him do up the last couple of buttons on the shirt before he pulled him into a strong, warm embrace and once again Matt began to cry as he remembered what had caused the scars. The scars which he had just revealed for the first time to another person, a person other than the man who had caused them, Callum himself.

'Callum did that, didn't he?' questioned Boden angrily feeling the rage building within him and his blood running cold through his veins at the thought of someone torturing his youngest lieutenant, when Matt he was only a young and defenceless little boy with no hope of protecting himself and when he felt like no-one cared enough to help him.

Casey nodded, 'I tried to stop him,' he said, hiccupping as he fought off the tears gathering in his bright blue eyes 'I really did, but he was always just too big and I couldn't fight him off.'

'I know you did, we know you did kid, it's okay. Like I said, we are still your family no matter what happens and I meant that, okay?' replied Kelly, motioning for Matt to sit back down beside him and hugging him when he accepted his offer and took the seat beside him.

Ten minutes later and Casey's cries had subsided as Mills returned to the couch with a glass of water for his lieutenant, a man who he had previously thought of as fearless, the football game still blaring out of the television had been long forgotten.

'What happened between you and Callum when you were a kid Matt?' asked Boden concerned and trying to control the rage bubbling inside of him, even though he feared the answer.

'Callum…he married my mother right after her divorce from my dad and he started hitting my mom just after they got married before that he had been really nice to me and my mother but the first time I saw him hit my mother he was drunk, he had just lost his job and he couldn't get a new one. I know that most people can't remember much about being four years old, but I can, my first ever memory as a kid is of Callum storming into the house drunk and beating the crap out of her. I was right there watching. I saw it all, when he was finished Callum looked over at me and he just had this look in his eye and I knew that he would come after me if I did even stepped one foot of line.' Started Casey 'That went on until just before my fifth birthday when he had been living with us for about a year, my mom had become an alcoholic, she was self medicating to help with her depression after the beatings. This one time she was going out to the store to buy me a late birthday present, she had forgotten when it was and she was trying to make it up to me, but she was drunk and driving way too fast so she got in an accident and wrapped her car around a tree. She was almost killed, the second she hit the tree she should have been a goner for sure, despite that she made it out alive but she got stuck in the hospital for four months with physical therapy and Callum…he did nothing to stop her. It was his fault, he could've stopped her I knew I couldn't have but if he had just stopped her leaving that night he might not have gotten the chance to do what he did…'

'What did he do to you Casey?' asked Kelly afraid of the answer not even sure if he wanted to hear what had happened yet or indeed whether he wanted to hear what had happened at all.


	4. Chapter 4 - The Decision

**Hey, guys thanks for the reviews and follows. To answer namine redfield's question yes there will be Dawsey but not for quite a while****…****sorry about that but I just wanted son Kelly and Casey friendship, I just feel like Kelly and Boden are right for this situation. Anyway on with the new chapter! Hope you enjoy this new update.**

'After my mom was out of the way Callum had lost his punching bag and there was no-one left to protect me from him, so he moved on to hitting me instead. He would always hit me below the collar bone, you know, nothing anyone would ever be able to see in passing. At the start of it all he would just be knocking me around every few days when he was drunk. But then he lost his new job just after my mom's first month in the hospital was over and everything started to go downhill from there, the beatings got worse, more frequent. Suddenly he had moved on from what he was like before to beating me daily and all the money we got from government benefits immediately were spent on booze and sometimes drugs if he was really down. There was never any food in the house, just beer and that was when he started using his belt. Sorry, I just need to stop for a minute, I just need to go get some water, I'll be back in a minute.'

Once Casey had left the room his team along with Boden and Severide started talking amongst themselves about the situation they had found themselves, and their lieutenant, stuck in.

'I'm gonna kill him, who the hell does he think he is, torturing my best friend,' said Kelly 'That son of a bitch is going to pay for what he did to him.'

'I'm with you there,' agreed Cruz as the rest of the fire-fighters nodded 'We've just got to figure out what we are going to do with him.'

'No, wait, we are not doing this.' Said Boden, his statement making the room fall silent.

'What, do you want to let Callum run around the fire station and the rest of the city hurting Matt even more than he already has? What's wrong with you?' snapped Kelly to Boden.

'No,' said Boden angrily 'that's exactly what I don't want. And that's why we should do this legally. If we do then we can get him sent down for life, the evidence that we have against him is rock solid.'

'You know what, maybe he's right,' said Kelly as Cruz and the rest of the guys looked at him incredulously 'I mean as much as I would like to kick the shit out of the guy, that would get us sent down and there's no way that we could protect Matt from Callum from in there he'd just end up being alone with him again.'

'Okay, should we tell Matt when he gets back?' asked Mouch.

'No, no not yet,' replied Kelly 'We need to let him finish, we have to let him tell us everything, as much as we might not want to hear about what he has to say. We have to listen to him, because if we don't let him get it all out then he's just going to think that we don't care about him and he'll shut down then there will be no way to get him to talk to the cops of about it…any of it.'

'Okay,' agreed Otis 'but since when did you become an expert on all of these things? Are you a psychologist now or what?'

'It doesn't matter Otis,' snapped Kelly 'All that matters right now is listening to what Matt has to say and showing him that we care so that hopefully we can get him to talk to the cops and get Callum arrested for all of this and sent down, that way he will never be able to hurt him again.' Finished Severide, not wanting to have to delve into the psychology of his statement when all he wanted to focus on was getting his best friend to open up and stop hurting.

Just then Matthew re-entered the room to continue revealing his past to his friends with a beaten down look on his face.

'Are you ready to keep going or do you need some more time?' asked Kelly in a concerned tone.

'Ready as I'll ever be.' Relied Matt, his voice still shaking, 'Okay, so, like I said he started using his belt when I turned six, I still get nightmares about it today. I've just had to learn to not scream when I get them, if I did when I was a kid it would wake up Callum and he would come in to my room and he would hit me until I passed out; he always said that when he did that I would never wake up screaming, I would only fall asleep screaming. After the first time he used his belt he decided it was his best way of punishing me and the older I got the worse the beatings became. After my mom went to prison and my dad was dead, my sister was in college on the other side of the country and he wouldn't let me go live with her, said she was to young to take responsibility for me and so he got full custody of me and there was no one left to protect me. He used to disappear for days at a time, I never knew where he was and he would just leave me there alone with no money and there was never any food in the house so I would have to go get food out of other people's garbage. Sometimes this nice old lady who lived next door to me, she would let me in her house and cook me dinner, it was hard for her to let me go back home after that but I just told her that it would only be till I could finish high school, it took everything I had to convince her not to call children's services but I knew that if she did that things would just get worse.'

'What do you mean?' asked Kelly.

'Um…well I don't know if I can…' said Matt glancing around at the rest of his colleagues, dreading the thought of having to explain his past to all of them at once.

'How about we take this into my office, get us some more privacy?' said Boden realising what Matt had been frightened off by.

Kelly, Boden and Casey made their was to the chief's office through the sea of worried looks and hushed conversations from the other fire-fighters. Kelly sat beside Matt on the couch in the room whilst the chief settled himself on the chair opposite to his two lieutenants.

'It's okay, you can carry on now…'


	5. Chapter 5 - The Confession

**Warning for this chapter everyone, descriptions of child abuse****…****not to ruin what you're going to read I just don't want any angry messages about not warning people. Anyways here is the new chapter hope that you enjoy it.**

'It's okay Matt, you can carry on now…' Assured Severide.

'Nothing you say in here will leave this room, you got it?' asked Boden.

Casey nodded and began speaking again. 'I had tried with social services before when my dad was still alive but Callum he had some sort of connections within the system, he knew people in high places I guess that's why the cops never did anything after they turned up at the house they would just leave without doing anything.' Explained Matt. 'By the time Callum had gotten a new job he was a complete alcoholic and all of the money went on his drinking. He was always drinking and smoking and then this one time when I was nine about six months after my mom went to prison, he had drunk all the beer in the house the night before and he couldn't remember drinking it because he had been so wasted, he was just so angry he had been building it up all day and he just stormed into my room and started accusing me of taking it, he was just so mad and he just wouldn't stop hitting me…

_flashback begins (contains swearing and abuse if sensitive to this stop reading this bit now I'll put in another warning when it's done)_

'Matthew!' shouted Callum angrily 'Where the hell are you, you little shit?'

Callum stumbled down the corridor drunkenly to Matt's bedroom, which in fact was a completely bare closet sized room not resembling a bedroom at all, it contained only a ratty old mattress, where Matt was currently seated listening to a Walkman that one of his teachers from school had given to him after taking pity on his obvious lack of possessions. The only other things in the room were his schoolbooks and his few sets of clothes which were gathered in neat piles in the corner of the room out of the way of the door so they couldn't be knocked away by his drunken stepfather storming in, ready to give him a beating for whatever reason he saw as warranting a so-called punishment. The door burst open and Callum stumbled into the room and stood towering over his trembling stepson who had scrambled backwards into the corner of the room shaking with fear as the man before him.

'Where's my beer?' barked Callum 'Did you drink it you little shit? You been stealing from me, huh?'

Casey ducked away from the grabbing hands of his enraged stepfather as he tried to snatch him out of the corner that his was cowering in.

'I didn't take it, I promise!' exclaimed Matt.

'Then where the hell is it Matthew?' shouted Callum causing Matt to flinch even further back into the corner he had been hiding in.

'You drank it last night!' replied Matt desperately.

'How dare you accuse me of something like that, you're going to pay for this!' said Callum angrily.

Callum grabbed Matt by the front of his shirt and dragged him up by it shoving him backwards into the wall. Callum began hitting Matt across the face repeatedly while holding him up against the wall by his throat, he held him there until he saw Matt's eyes beginning to gloss over and roll back into his head as he felt the lack of oxygen getting to his brain. When he saw Matt beginning to slip away he let go of his neck and allowed him to fall to the ground where he promptly began kicking his with his steel capped work boots, he kicked any area of the small boy on the floor below him that he could. Matt could feel his ribs beginning to give as they were repeatedly kicked by the man mountain looming above him, snickering as he heard his stepson begging and crying for him to stop.

'Now then boy,' said Callum relenting from his repeated kicks to hear the answer 'are you going to tell me what you did with my beer?'

'I didn't do anything! I promise! Please just stop it, I didn't take it!' begged Matt still trembling from his position on the floor.

'I know you took it you stupid piece of crap and now…now you are going to pay for it!' said Callum drawing out a cigarette from the packet in his pocket, lighting it and taking a long drag.

'Cal…Callum I'm sorry, just please don't. I promise I'll be good!' stuttered Matt fearfully anticipating what was coming next in the usual pattern of his stepfather's bad moods.

'Matthew, what the hell is wrong with you stupid idiotic kid how many times do I have to tell you Matty, what do you call me?' Callum asked.

'I'm sorry sir, I forgot, I'll do better, I promise, just please, don't!' stammered Matt still trembling, frightened by the man before him.

'You're right about that, Matthew because I'm going to teach you a lesson you won't ever forget.' Replied Callum approaching the young boy cowering before him with his cigarette still hanging out of his mouth. In one swift movement he crouched beside the boy on the ground and removed the cigarette from his mouth. 'Take off your shirt Matthew, do it, now!' he ordered forcefully.

Matt slowly removed the shirt that was covering his chest to bare his scars to the man who had created them. Callum ran his hand down the back of his young stepson enjoying the feel of the raised lines on the smooth skin of the little boy, that he had caused. Matt whimpered as his stepfather brought the cigarette close to the collection of scars on his left shoulder, he could smell the skin burning as the lit cigarette singed his flesh, the intense pain coursed through his body as he felt the scar beginning to form alongside the large collection of burns which marred the skin of his shoulder. He had long ago resolved himself to becoming a fire-fighter to try and make sure that no-one else would have to go through the pain he went through each time his step-father burned him.

_End of flashback_


	6. Chapter 6 - The Aftermath

'He just got worse after that, up until I finally was able to leave just after I finished high school. I ran away the night that I was done with school and I stole some money from him and then I ran away to here, in Chicago.' Finished Casey.

'I'm so sorry Matt.' Said Kelly 'You didn't deserve to have any of that happen to you. It wasn't your fault, any of it.'

Severide pulled Casey into another hug as he cried relieved at finally being able to tell another person about what had happened to him when he was still just a kid. After five minutes Matt pulled out of the tight embrace and turned to the two older men before him.

'What happens now then?' asked Casey.

'Well, we all think that it would be best if we reported this to the police. But only if you agree, we don't want to push you into doing anything that you don't want to do.' Explained Kelly 'We'll understand if you don't want to do anything now, but know that if you do decide to then we will be with you every step of the way. But if we do it legally like this then we can get him put away for life and you would never have to see him again.'

'I don't know, it would be good to know that no matter what I would never have to see him today, I wouldn't have to worry about him turning up and screwing up my life again like he did today. But if I did go to the courts then I would have to be a witness at the trial and I don't think I can stand in a courtroom and talk about what he did to me right in front of him.' said Casey his hands shaking as he stated this.

'Not, necessarily,' said Boden 'we could try and keep it out of the courts especially with the medical records you must have.'

'there's something I didn't tell you. There was a trial before…well almost a trial, when I was a kid.' Mumbled Casey under his breath worried about the punishment he might get for not having told them earlier, when he lived with Callum lying got you a harsh beating and a night locked in the closet under the stairs.

Matt's knee began to jerk up and down repetitively as his nerves got the better of him until Kelly placed a hand on his knee and pushed it down cringing when his younger friend flinched away from him.

'How old were you?' asked Boden in a concerned tone.

'I was eight when it happened,' replied Matt almost inaudibly 'One of my teachers called child protective services after I got my arm broken by Callum for the second time that year. But it didn't go very far.'

'What went down with the trial?' Kelly inquired gently.

'The case never even made it to trial. I got interviewed by a social worker, she promised me that if I told her everything then she would stop it and I could get a new family and it would be okay, so I told her, I told her everything about what had happened with my stepdad.' Answered Matt 'I thought it would be fine but then the trial happened and everything went wrong.'

'What do you mean?' asked Kelly his confusion evident in his voice.

'I mean that the whole case was a shambles, some guy who was higher up was bribed or something. I don't really know but I know that something went wrong because soon enough they gave me back to him and got my teacher fired for the accusations that she made against my step-dad.'

'How the hell does that kind of stuff happen?' questioned Kelly angrily.

'I don't know, but Matt I promise it won't happen again this time.' Reassured Boden.

'My real dad, he didn't find out about it until after it had all happened, he confronted my mom about it but she defended Callum even though I still think she might have known what was going on. That night after I got back to my mom and my step-dad's house my mom took the keys to my dad's house that I had left out on the kitchen counter, she went over there and she shot him, the next time I saw her was when she was behind bars. On the same night Callum beat the crap out of me for the whole trial thing and when my mom found out about it she told the cops that it was my real dad who was responsible for the beating, so she got a reduced sentence that's why she was only in prison for fifteen years rather than a life sentence.' Explained Casey.

'Man, that is messed up, how does that sort of stuff happen?' exclaimed the chief disturbed by what he was hearing had happened to the young man before him.

'I don't know how it happened but it did, the only person who I could really trust through all of that stuff was my sister, I told her everything and she tried to get custody of me but she just couldn't. Oh dammit, she was supposed to come around here today, my mom just got out of jail last week and we were gonna talk about what we were planning to do about her being back in tow, that's probably how Callum found me, through mom and why he came around now.'

'It's okay if she comes around. We can explain the situation to her, when is she meant to be coming over?' asked Boden.

'Um, well…now actually' explained Casey, glancing down at his watch 'she was meant to arrive two minutes ago, she's probably down on the apparatus floor.'

'Come on then, lets go down and see her.' Said Kelly, helping Casey up.

The three highest ranked men in the house exited the chief's office one at a time and made their way back past the rest of the men who fell silent as they passed through the kitchen, concerned looks still plastered on their faces.

Casey caught sight of his older sister by ten years as soon as he walked into the main floor where the trucks were kept.

'Hey, Christie.' He said as he was embraced in yet another tight hug, losing count of how many he had received that day. Christine eventually pulled away and caught sight of her baby brother's face, as soon as she saw the dried tear streaks along his face with the puffy and red eyes she could tell something had gone terribly wrong to make her brother cry more than she had probably ever seen him before.


	7. Chapter 7 - The Family

**Sorry this is a bit later than I intended for it to be****… ****but thanks for all the reviews I didn't really expect that and they mean a lot so a big thank you to all of you and here you go! Hope you enjoy it!**

'Matt, what happened?' asked Christine, concerned for her brother's welfare

'Callum…he turned up here. He found me, I don't know how.' Explained Casey his voice shaking as he said this.

'Oh…Matt. I'm so sorry you're okay right? He didn't hurt you did he?' asked Christine.

'No, he didn't get the chance.' Replied Matt.

Suddenly Christie caught sight of the two men flanking her little brother and stopped talking knowing that her brother wouldn't want her to reveal what had happened to him as a kid to anyone without his permission unless it was completely necessary.

'It's okay, I told them.' Assured Matt recognising the look on his big sister's face as she saw Boden and Kelly on either side of him. 'They um, well they saw the scars on my back. So I told them about Callum.'

'How much did you tell them?' asked Christie not wanting to divulge more of Matt's background than he was willing to admit.

'Almost everything…' said Casey in reply.

'Wait, what do you mean, almost everything?' asked Kelly not sure what information Matt was leaving out of the story he had told.

'I just, there are some things I would prefer to keep to myself…' stuttered Casey.

'It's okay Matt, it's fine. I didn't mean it like that, I'm not taking this personally.' Assured Kelly, trying to keep his friend's fragile trust.

'I think we should take this conversation back inside.' Said the chief nodding towards the small collection of men from the second watch gathered near them.

The next time the four of them left chief Boden's office was over a half an hour later when they went into the kitchen to get some lunch making small talk with the rest of the truck and squad team members.

'Okay, guys, I'm going to say this and I'm only going to say it once.' Started Casey standing up and facing his men as silence once more fell on the room, 'The guy in here before, Callum, he was my stepfather from when I was four years old and he abused me when I was a kid. I don't really want to go much more into it than that but the scars that you saw earlier, they were from him.'

When Casey was finished one by one his crew came up to him and embraced him in a hug, showing their support for the usually stoic lieutenant.

'Thanks guys, it means a lot.' Said Casey.

'Don't sweat it lieutenant.' Replied Hermann 'We know you would do the same thing for us.'

A few days later everything at the firehouse had calmed down, Christie had moved closer to Matt so she could help him with the Callum situation, even though he hadn't been seen or heard from since the day he turned up at the firehouse. Christie was currently at the firehouse with Matt helping him to cook dinner for the rest of the firehouse when their mother walked through the door.

'Hey Matt, Christie.' she said as she entered the room surprised to see both of her children present.

Matt and Christie looked up at the sound of their mother's voice and saw her standing in the middle of the room.

'Hi mom,' said Matt shocked to see her standing in his firehouse, 'How did you get here I thought we were coming to pick you up tonight after my shift ended?'

'I got a ride.' Replied Nancy curtly.

'With who? You just got out of prison after fifteen years.' Asked Christie confused by her mother's sudden arrival.

'Callum, he came and picked me up.' Said Nancy shocking both of her children, taking in their horrified looks at the thought of Callum being in the fire station again. 'We had an interesting conversation about you, Matthew.'

'Wh-what did he say?' said Matt stumbling over his words fearful about what Callum had told his mother about his encounter.

'He told me that you've been mouthing off about him to your friends, again.' Stated Nancy nobody missing the underlying venom in her voice. 'That you've been lying about him again, trying to get him in trouble.'

'I wasn't lying, mom.' Replied Matt in a quiet voice.

'Oh come on Matthew. You were over-exaggerating, Callum was only trying to toughen you up.' Shouted Nancy. 'I think you should go and apologise to Callum after your shift, after everything he told me you said.'

'Mom, there is no way that he's is going to go and apologise to that sick bastard of a man!' shouted Christie angrily, drawing the attention of both the chief and Kelly who entered the room as soon they heard the raised voices.

'Please, can you both just stop it!' replied Casey the room falling silent as the usually quiet lieutenant raised his voice for the first time that many of the those present had heard him speak above his normal tone apart from when giving orders.

'Matt, I'm sorry but it's just…how can you just listen to her come in her and say these things to you after everything that happened. All because she married Callum.' Said Christie grabbing her brother's shoulders and forcing him to look her in the eyes, something he hadn't done in years. 'Please Matty just…'

'Don't call me Matty!' snapped back Matt interrupting his sister. 'Sorry, it's just that's what Callum used to call me before he would, you know…' he finished only his sister getting the hint as the rest of the people in the room stood around confused.

'I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. I completely forgot I didn't mean it.' Replied Christie apologetically realising exactly what Matt had meant.

'What's she talking about Matt?' asked Kelly apprehensively 'You didn't say anything about that before.'

'I told you that there were some things I didn't want to talk about…well that was one of them.' Stated Casey hoping to shrug off Kelly's advances.

'What are you talking about Matthew?' demanded Nancy angrily, 'Stop feeding lies about my husband to all your friends. I never saw Callum lay a hand on you and if he did then he was just trying to toughen you up, your dad and Christie had made you too weak. You should be grateful that he tried to be your father, he was stricter than anyone had ever been with you and you needed that.'

'What are you talking about mom, he wasn't just trying to toughen me up do you call this…trying to toughen me up.' Replied Casey showing his mother the scars Callum had made on his back in an effort to get her to finally listen to him and realise what she had let her husband do to him when he had no chance of defending himself.

His mother looked momentarily shocked by seeing the torture she had allowed her own son to be put through, however she quickly regained her composure as Matt pulled his shirt back down and hoped he had finally gotten his mother onside after the years of abuse he had suffered through silently.

Nancy's next statement was enough to shock everyone in the room to the core and force them into silence, 'Well you probably deserved it, didn't you.'


	8. Chapter 8 - The Secret

**Hey everyone, so sorry that this is a day late but I noticed an exam I didn't know I had on my timetable so slightly stressed by that…anyway hope that you enjoy this. Oh and by the way after the many requests I received I have included somebody slapping Nancy, lets hope it will help her see sense.**

At that exact moment the rage that had been slowly building in Christie exploded, 'Who the hell do you the do you think you are coming in here and telling my baby brother that he deserved everything that your sick bastard of a husband did to him.' Finishing her rant she quickly raised her hand and backhanded her mother across the face violently, the noise from the slap reverberated around the room shocking the other fire fighters in the room into silence. Christine smirked showing no remorse for the violence and looked around the room as if checking to see if anyone would challenge her action but nobody did, after the initial shock wore off the only reaction Christine received was a smirk from Severide and Nancy touching her face to check for any injuries other than the red mark on her left cheek and a slight indent from Christie's ring.

'Oh please, it wasn't as bad as you're making it out to be Matthew. For all I know you got those scars of your dad and you're just blaming it on Callum because he paid more attention to me than he did to you.' Shouted back Nancy, quickly recovering from the shock of her own daughter slapping her across the face and still preferring to believe her husband over her own son.

'Mom, what the hell is wrong with you? You weren't even there, you had no idea what he was doing to Matt he wasn't just hitting him! He was burning him with cigarettes, beating him with belts, at least once a month in the middle of the night I would wake up to someone knocking on the door of me and dad's door and I would find my seven year old brother standing there pale with blood loss, clothes ripped and crying his eyes out. I used to carry him inside and realise how light he was because neither of you were bothering to buy any food. Do you know what its like to listen to your baby brother crying and begging you not to hurt him, flinching away from you because hitting is what he associates with someone coming near to him.' Replied Christie, by now raising her voice in an effort to shock her mother into understanding the pain she had caused. 'And it wasn't just the physical abuse, while you were out getting drunk in a bar somewhere or passed out on the couch your disgusting bastard of a husband was molesting and raping my baby brother. Do you know what it's like to listen to a six year old try to explain to you that his own stepfather raped him and molested him and had been doing that to him since he was four years old. Convincing him that he was worthless and that he didn't deserve to live, hurting him so much that he tried to kill himself when he was twelve years old, did you know that? Did you? I found him you know, maybe you know what that's like, finding a twelve year old boy, your own brother hanging from the ceiling and having to cut him down, that's how I spent Christmas that year, beside his hospital bed waiting for him to wake up. And where was Callum all of that time, he was nowhere to be found, the next time I saw him was a month later when he took him back to that hellhole and I didn't get to see him for another year and a half. Where were you that whole time, you were in prison rotting away for killing the one person who had almost gotten him out of that house!' finished Christie tears running down her face as she caught sight of her brother crouching on the ground curled up, leaning on the counter, shaking as tears streamed down his face.

'You said you weren't going to tell her…' replied Matt, the hurt at the betrayal obviously showing in his cracking voice. 'You promised you wouldn't tell anyone and now you've told everyone.' Finished Casey gesturing around to the rest of the fire-fighters in the room.

'I'm sorry Matt, I didn't mean to do to tell them.' Said Christie reaching out to touch Matt's shoulder and receiving only a flinch in return.

Seeing the distraught look on his friend's face Kelly approached Matt, sitting on the floor beside him and pulling him into a tight embrace, ignoring his violent flinch and allowing him to cry into his shoulder.

'I'm sorry Matt, I didn't know any of that. Please just look at me, I'm sorry. Please forgive me, for everything.' Begged Nancy, finally realising what she had done to her own son, tears welling up in her eyes.

'Please I don't want to be here anymore Kelly…' whispered Matt tears still running down his face continuously, he looked up at his best friend and begged him with his eyes to take him away from here so he didn't have to listen to two people who were meant to protect him reveal everything he had tried so hard to keep hidden to all of the people he respected.

'C'mon Matt, let's go back to Boden's office.' Said Kelly taking Matt up by the arm and leading him back to the Chief's office with Boden following.

As Kelly lead Casey and Boden back to the office those remaining in the room turned to Christie and Nancy horrified by what they had heard them saying about their lieutenant.

'Nancy, I think you should leave. If you give us your number then we can give it to Matt if he wants to talk to you. But don't come back until he asks you to.' Said Hermann trying to get the situation under control for his boss.

'Yeah, mom you should probably go.' Confirmed Christie not making an effort to his her smug tone.

'You too Christie.' Replied Cruz, backing up Hermann's plan.

'Wait why should I go, I was just trying to protect him?' exclaimed Christie, angered by the orders of the men before him.

'Because you just destroyed Matt's trust, you're probably the only person he ever told about what Callum did to him and you just blurted it out in front of all the people he works with.' Replied Hermann trying to contain his anger at the ignorance of the woman before him. 'Now I suggest the pair of you leave him to digest what has just happened and wait until he asks you to come back on his terms, not on yours. Now please just go.'


	9. Chapter 9 - The Callout

**Hey everyone thanks for the reviews and follows it mean a lot to me. There's a new character in this chapter and a bit of a break from the rather intense scenes that have been going on…let me know what you think!**

Both Nancy and Christie picked up the bags that they had brought in with them and started making their way out the door but not before a call came over the intercom.

'House fire…1751 Station Avenue, Engine 51, Truck 81, Squad 3, Ambulance 61, Battalion 25.'

The message finished and the firehouse was plunged into action the two lieutenants and the chief emerged from the office and sprung into action, anxious to get back to work.

The atmosphere in the truck was silent and awkward until Casey finally spoke up 'Guys, I don't want anything that just happened to change this team, I respect you guys and I want you to know that having spoken to Boden and Severide, I have decided to take Callum to court and get him put away for what he did and I would really like your support in that.'

'Lieutenant, you have our full support in all of this, no matter what happens.' Replied Hermann.

'Thanks guys, it's good to be back to normal.' Replied Casey relieved.

'Now Otis seriously, you tied by shoelaces together, again!' joked Cruz.

'Hey, hey, I didn't do it the first time, that was Matt.' Replied Otis, laughing as he tried to defend himself.

'That true lieutenant?' asked Cruz.

'Of course not, I'd never do anything like that.' Said Matt feigning innocence and sending Mills and Hermann into hysterical laughter.

'Seriously,' laughed Cruz, 'I didn't think you were that childish anymore.'

'Nah,' replied Casey 'I've always been like this, just ask Hermann.'

'Yeah, he was always like that,' confirmed Hermann 'even as a candidate, him, Darden and Severide, were like little menaces.'

'Come on, we weren't that bad.' Replied Casey, 'Wait, were we?'

'What did they do?' asked Mills intrigued by what both of his lieutenants had gotten up to when they were candidates.

'Ok, I'll tell you but don't get any ideas, their first year here on Halloween was when they first started getting a reputation. The three of them covered every spare inch of Boden's office in post it note, they were so lucky that they were Boden's favorite candidates ever, anyone else and they would have been in trouble.'

Then Kelly piped up over the radio 'Hey, Hermann you forgot what we did after that for April fools!'

'Hey, no I didn't I would just prefer not to get into that again.' Said Hermann.

'C'mon Hermann what did they do?' asked Mills eagerly.

'Oh, come on Hermann it wasn't our worst one.' Said Kelly and Matt.

Just then Boden decided to join in 'Their first April fools in the house, hadn't even been here a year but they already had a reputation. They borrowed Hermann's kit and made it all pink, right down to the boot, it didn't turn back to the right colour for over a week.'

'Wait, so you went on calls for like two weeks wearing pink kit.' Laughed Mills as Hermann nodded in reply, 'How did you get it to go pink?'

'Ah, can't tell you that, it's a secret.' Replied Severide.

Shortly after the laughter dwindled down the teams arrived at the fire.

The building manager ran up to Boden and relayed the situation to the chief 'Everyone else is out apart from Emma James and her son Jackson the guy who lives on the floor below them, David, went in to find them but he hasn't come out yet, they live in the attic apartment. Please find Jackson, he's only four, he's a really sweet kid.'

'Okay, truck you're on the primary search go straight to the attic that's where the victims are, a man, a woman and her child. Severide have we got a vent?'

'That's a negative chief, we're working on it now, give me around thirty seconds. Ok, we got it the vent is open.' Confirmed Severide.

'Hermann with me everyone else as soon as we get the two victims out throw the water on it.' Ordered Casey before running through the front door of the house.

As soon as they reached the top floor the pair started calling out for David and Jack.

'Chicago fire department, call out.' Shouted Casey and Hermann.

Both men had been calling out for almost two minutes when they heard a faint voice from the back corner of the room.

Hermann reached out and caught hold of a charred arm.

'Casey, I found the guy who went in to find them, I've got a pulse, he's not conscious but he's still breathing.' Announced Hermann.

'Take him out of here Hermann, I'll wait and find the kid and the woman.' Ordered Casey sending Hermann out of the room. 'Chicago fire department, call out, Jackson, Emma are you in here?'

'I'm over here.' Came a small voice from under the bed.

'Hey Jack, my name's Matt let's get you out of here, ok?' said Matt softly as he reached under the bed and pulled out the small boy cowering below picking him up and pulling him into his jacket.

Jack clung onto Matt's shirt as he was carried from the burning building,

'Shay,' Matt called to the paramedic seeing she was free, 'This is Jack can you check him over for me?'

'Sure.' Shay replied.

'Chief, I couldn't find the woman I don't even know if she was in there' said Casey to Boden.

'Hey, Mr Barrett.' Called the chief gesturing over the building manager 'Are you sure that the woman was in there, we couldn't find her.'

'I don't know, I haven't seen her in a couple of days, she wasn't exactly the most committed mother.' Replied Mr Barrett.

Matt tried to put the small boy down on the gurney but he had latched onto him so he just sat on the gurney with Jack on his lap whilst Shay did the checks. When Shay was finished Jack looked up to Matt tears still running down his cheeks his blue eyes staring up at the man he had latched onto.

'Hey Jack, I need to ask you an important question. Was your mommy in the house when the fire started?' asked Casey.

'No, she left yesterday with Peter, her new boyfriend.' Replied Jack beginning to cry harder.


	10. Chapter 10 - The Boy

**Hi everyone I am so sorry about not updating on the weekend all of my exams have been very bunched up recently and it has been very hard to find the time to keep writing. But the good news is that my exams finished today and I've gotten straight back into writing this. I'm going to put this chapter up first and hopefully I can finish the next one later today or early tomorrow so you can have two chapters in one day. Hope you enjoy it.**

'It's okay Jack, don't worry I'll look after you.' Reassured Casey trying to keep the small boy calm.

'Does mommy not love me anymore?' asked Jack his wide sapphire eyes clouded with tears.

Matt looked down on the young boy in his arms, clutching him closer as the child sobbed. 'I'm sure she loves you very much Jack, it's just sometimes everything gets a bit too much and she probably just needed to take a break, okay?'

Jack nodded in reply and nestled himself into Casey's chest his little hands clutching the fire-fighters shirt.

'I'm sorry Jack, it's going to be okay.' Said Matt comfortingly. 'Chief, child services can pick him up from the fire station can't they, I don't want to see this kid going into foster care tonight.'

The chief nodded in reply, agreeing with what Matt was suggesting.

'Hey, Jack. Do you want to come back to the fire house with me for tonight?' asked Matt, the young boy growing on him by the second.

Jack nodded profusely cracking a gap toothed smile.

Matt lifted up Jack and sat him in his lap in the truck as they made their way back to the firehouse after putting out the rest of the fire.

The next morning Jack's new social worker arrived at the firehouse looking for her charge.

'Hi, I was wondering if you could help, my name is Mary Jane Scott.' Said the woman who appeared to be in her late sixties with grey, curly hair and bright blue eyes. 'I am a social worker, I'm here to meet Jackson James. I was told he was brought over here last night for some reason, after the fire at his house.'

'Hi, I'm Christopher Hermann, I'll get Casey to bring him down here.' Said Hermann making his way to Matt's office, smiling when he saw the scene before him. 'Hey Matt, Jack's social worker is here, she wants you guys to come down.'

'Okay, we're coming now.' Replied Matt looking up from his spot on the floor, he was sitting on the ground playing with Jack with some toy fire trucks he had found in his desk that he had hung onto from when he was a kid. 'Come on Jack,' said Casey lifting up Jack and tucking him under his arm, still carrying the toy trucks. 'Let's go meet your social worker, make sure you remember what we talked about last night.'

As Matt entered the room, the young boy still giggling in his grasp, he was shocked by the woman before him.

'Matthew Casey.' Said Mary pulling him into a hug as he put Jack down on the floor. 'I never thought I'd see you again.'

'Wait,' asked Kelly 'How do you two know each other?'

'She was my social worker when I was a kid, she tried to get me out of Callum's custody so many times.' Replied Casey.

'So this is Jack, I'm guessing.' Said Mary 'I see you gave him those old fire trucks that you had.'

'You weren't joking when you said you had always wanted to be a fire-fighter were you?' said Kelly.

'No, he wasn't. The first time I met him he was wandering around with that very same fire truck toy, told me you wanted to be a fire fighter when you were five years old.' Replied Mary, laughing at the memory. 'I guess you finally did it kid, you finally got away from Callum I'm assuming.'

'I did, I ran away the day after I finished high school. But he found me again,' explained Matt, his voice cracking as he did. 'Callum turned up here yesterday out of nowhere. It brought everything back up.'

'Oh Matthew honey I'm so sorry, you didn't deserve that, any of that.' Replied Mary, 'You were always such a sweet boy.'

'It's fine, let's talk about Jack here now instead though.' Said Casey pulling Jack back up onto his lap and ruffling the boy's hair.

'Well, I've checked his background and there are no other family members to take him in so we're looking at adoption, which is probably unlikely for his age, or the more likely option of foster care until he's eighteen.' Explained Mary sadly.

'Mary,' asked Matt quietly, 'Do you think that maybe I could adopt him? I'd have to get Boden to agree about working hours and stuff but I don't want to see him get lost in the system and end up like I did. He already trusts me and I know I could take care of him.'

'Okay Matt, you can stop there. I agree with you. I'd love to let you take him on but we've got to check with Boden and go through all the right channels.' Clarified Mary with a smile on her face, happy to see one of her old kids taking on a new charge of hers.

'I think you should go for it Matt.' Said Boden from his place in the corner of the room where he had listened to the whole conversation unnoticed. 'I'll be happy to make sure that you have shifts that mean you can take care of Jack.'

'Thanks chief,' said Casey looking down as the sleeping boy leaning on his chest 'I appreciate that.'

'I'll see what I can do about getting the papers through the system quickly it should take about two weeks to get you approved but until then I can leave him with you as an emergency foster placement.' Explained Mary still smiling.

By the next week Jack had settled into life with Matt, he had been settled into a neighborhood daycare when Matt was on shift and life seemed to be almost perfect again. Casey had gotten in touch with Antonio and together they had begun building a case against the currently elusive Callum for everything he had done to Matt as a young boy.

Kelly and Casey were hanging out in the chief's office with Boden discussing their decision on getting a new candidate into the house.

Meanwhile down on the apparatus floor the engine team had just finished running drills when a drunken Callum stormed in through the station door.


	11. Chapter 11 - The Hostage

**Hey guys as promised here is the second chapter of the day to make up for the gap since last wednesday (so so so sorry about that). But we are back on schedule now and I'll continue with the updates on Wednesdays and Sundays. Hope you enjoy it! **

Meanwhile down on the apparatus floor the engine team had just finished running drills when a drunken Callum stormed in through the station door.

'Sir, can I help you?' asked one of the fire-fighters.

'I'm here to see my stepson. Do you know where I could find him?' demanded Callum angrily.

'Well you I'm not sure if we can really help you, if your stepson was in an accident that we responded to then he will either be in the hospital getting checked out or down at the police station.' Replied another fire-fighter.

'He's not one of your victims you idiots, you just need to tell my where he is!' shouted the man.

'Well if he wasn't at any of the fires I don't really see how we can help you.' Answered an engine fire-fighter.

'He works here! Just go get him for me.'

'What's his name then, maybe I can page him down here…' replied the fire-fighter becoming increasingly worried about the angry man before him.

'Matthew, his name is Matthew Casey, he's a lieutenant. Now just get him down here or tell show me where he is. I need to talk to him.'

'Oh Lieutenant Casey is your step son! I don't think I can page him down here right now he's probably in the middle of that meeting with Severide and the chief right now. Isn't that right guys?' said the man desperately trying to keep Matt's father away from him having heard about what had happened the week before.

'Yeah,' replied his friend, confirming the story 'that meeting with the chief and the other lieutenant about getting a new candidate.'

'If you don't believe me I can show you my drivers license my name is Callum Henderson, my son is called Matthew Casey now where is he?' shouted Callum angrily.

'I told you Mr Henderson he is in the middle of a meeting. I can't get him down here now.' Replied the fire-fighter.

'Look, I know that all of you guys are lying to me. I didn't want to have to do this but if you're not going to tell me where he is I have no other choice.' Said Callum drawing out a gun.

'Whoa, wait a minute just put it down.' Stuttered one of the men fearfully as he and the rest of the engine team were backed into a corner of the apparatus floor.

'Here is what is going to happen. One of you is going to tell me where this meeting is and I don't want to hear a word about anything else. Do it, now!' ordered Callum.

'Okay, I'll tell you right now. He's in chief Boden's office all the way down the hallway to the right through those doors Just put the gun down!' said one of the men.

Less than two minutes later Callum arrived at the office and barged through the door.

'Excuse me what do you think you are doing in here? This is a private meeting!' exclaimed Boden not realising that the man was Matt's stepfather.

'Callum, what the hell are you doing here? Get out!' cried out Casey realising who was at the door.

'Hey, Matthew, I heard you're making a court case against me based on your lies.' Said Callum moving further into the room and locking the door behind him.

Boden turned around and saw Callum standing there blocking the doorway and locking the door behind him. As Matt tried to move past him and get out he caught sight of the gun that Callum was holding.

'Where do you think you're going Matty?' asked David menacingly 'I've missed you since you've been gone. And you hardly let me near you when I came to see you last week.'

'Callum…what are you doing here?' asked Casey fearfully looking as though he was on the verge of tears.

'I heard that you were accusing me of abusing you sexually and physically, you little liar. Have you been lying to get sympathy again Matty, you know I warned you about this last time. I thought you had learned your lesson about lying about me to get sympathy. There's no point in going to the court now and telling them that it was abuse when we both know that you always enjoyed it.' Said Callum as he backed Matt into the corner of the room smiling as the young man cried and trembled beneath him.

'Get off of him!' shouted Kelly approaching the stepfather and his stepson with rage burning inside him.

Callum turned to Severide and pointed the gun at him as Matt quickly slipped out from beneath him and went to sit next to Derek on the couch. Kelly backed away from Callum as he swung the gun around dangerously joined the two of them leaning against the wall on the sofa and the men in the room watched in horror as Matt's eyes glazed over as he spiralled into a flashback.

_Flashback_

A six year old Matt was lying in bed about to fall asleep when an angry Callum stormed into the room and towered over him as he lay cowering on the dirty old mattress in the corner of the room that his step father called his bed.

'Hey Matty,' said Callum 'Do you want to play a game with your new daddy now?'

Matty shuddered at the sound of those words, he knew what Callum meant by that, whenever Callum said that Matt got hurt and it always hurt a lot more than the usual beatings he got from his stepfather. He wished that Callum would stop hurting him but he knew it was his fault because he was always a bad boy and so he knew he deserved to be punished. Callum had told him that so it had to be true, Callum didn't lie only bad boys like him lied and that meant that you had to be punished for it.

'Callum, please I don't want too. I just want to go to sleep please.' Begged Matthew fearfully as his stepfather got closer to him.

'What did I tell you about calling me that last time?' demanded Callum angrily, 'I thought you learned your lesson last time, or do I need to teach you that lesson again.'

Matt shook his head profusely and shuddered at the memory of his last punishment.

'Okay Matty now, what do you call me? And I want you to apologise for what you've said to me tonight.' asked Callum relishing in the fear he saw in the eyes and trembling hands of the boy cringing below him.

'I'm sorry,' replied Matt still trembling biting his lip before being forced to say the next part. 'I'm sorry…daddy.'


	12. Chapter 12 - The Rescue

'I'm sorry,' replied Matt still trembling biting his lip before being forced to say the next part. 'I'm sorry, daddy.'

He finished speaking, struggling to say the last part, as he knew that this man had never been and would never be his daddy like his real father was. Matt bit his lip tears streaming down his face, he knew Callum would never be his father because he knew what a real father was like. His real father had never hurt him, he had kissed him and hugged him and made him feel warm and safe when he got hurt, even if he had only bumped his knee or fallen off of his bike. He wanted to tell his daddy what was going on but Callum had told him that if he did then his real daddy wouldn't love him anymore than he would have to live with live with Callum all the time rather than getting to spend every other weekend with his real father.

'You know how this goes Matty, come on lets play our special game. It'll make you feel so good Matty, you know it will. You know how much better it makes your daddy feel.' Said Callum.

Matt whimpered as his stepfather ripped off his pyjama bottoms and t-shirt and then his own as well and got on top of him.

'What's the matter aren't you enjoying this Matty, I know that I am?' asked David.

When his stepfather was finally finished with him over half an hour later he left the room, Matt curled himself back into a small ball on his bed in the corner of the room, after he had redressed himself and thrown up in the trash can. But just ten minutes later his monster of a stepfather returned to the room with his belt in his hand.

'Daddy, I'm sorry,' cried Matty 'what did I do wrong?'

'You think that was good enough boy. God, you're so bloody useless!' Shouted his stepfather as he beat him with the belt, punctuating each word with a lash, raining the blows down on the tiny child below him. Callum finally stopped thrashing the young boy after what seemed like an eternity, afterwards Matt thought that the torture had finally ended but instead his stepfather hauled him up by the collar of his shirt. Then he began to drag him out into the hallway of the house and he hauled him along the corridor towards the small broom cupboard in the corridor and shoved him in, locking the door behind him. Matt hoped that he wouldn't be stuck in the closet for as long as last time, last time Callum hadn't let him out for four days and when he did it was only because his sister was coming around to see him and he didn't want her to suspect anything.

_End of flashback_

Matt was drawn out of his flashback by the door being broken down by the police. After noticing that Matt was stuck in a bad memory Kelly had reached out for his phone quickly sending a text off to Capp asking for help whilst Callum wasn't paying attention. Capp had called the cops who promptly arrived and gathered outside the door to Boden's office waiting until Callum's back was to the door before knocking it down and running in to diffuse the situation. They broke down the door and arrested Callum, yanking him out of the room and dragging him out of the fire station, taking the gun with them and leaving Boden and Kelly to comfort a frightened and stunned Matt.

'Casey! It's okay, it's only me and Kelly. Your stepdad is gone now, the cops arrested him. Everything is going to be okay now, kid.' Assured chief Boden, trying to console Matt.

Matt was promptly embraced by both Kelly and the chief, as they both tried to comfort him after the shock of encountering his stepfather for the second time in two weeks since running away from Callum's home all those years ago.

Two weeks later and Matt was sitting in the benches of the court room between Severide and chief Boden waiting to be called to the witness stand. So far Hermann, Mouch, Otis, Mills and Cruz had all taken to the stand to testify as character witnesses for him, and also to talk about the psychological effects that the abuse had on Casey, the kind of thing they had seen first hand after he was confronted by Callum. Boden and Severide had just both just returned from getting questioned by both lawyers on the hostage situation from two weeks before. Now one of Matt's previous teachers from when he was in elementary school was just stepping down from the stand after telling people what Matt was like whilst he was in his class and about the bond that they formed when Matt had first joined the school, which meant that it was now his turn to testify. His hands shook and his whole body trembled as he took the oath to tell the truth and sat down in the witness stand.

'Could you state your full name for the court please.' Asked the public defender, James Green (I'm going to refer to him as James from now on so try to remember his name).

'Lieutenant Matthew Gregory Casey.' Stated Matt.

'So Mr Casey,' said James 'For the record your parents are Nancy Henderson and the now deceased Gregory Casey, is this true?' asked James.

'Yes, my father was killed when I was six.' Answered Matt.

'Could you explain to the court how he died?' asked James.

'Shortly after I turned four my mother and father got divorced and she remarried Callum Henderson, my stepfather. They had a bad relationship after that, when I was six my dad found out what Callum had been doing to me after I got my arm broken for the second time that year. He confronted my mother over it and that night she got drunk and left the house and she killed my dad, she shot him five times after he told her that he was going to try to get full custody of me. And it was all my fault.' Explained Matt.

'Can you tell me why you thought that?' asked James 'Did your stepfather tell you or did you just suspect it?'

'He used to tell me that it was my fault, all the time. When he was annoyed or when he was drunk,' said Matt 'he used to scream at me about it telling me all about how I had murdered my father and it was my fault that my mother was in prison. He said that he wished I had never been born because then he wouldn't have had to live with me and the fact that I'm useless like he always said I was, then he could have my mother back instead. He said it was my fault because I had left the keys to my dad's house out on the kitchen counter, and that's how she got into my father's house. Without those keys she wouldn't have been able to get into the house and kill him.'

The court remained in shocked silence for a few moments, the jury members looking completely horrified at the knowledge they had just gained.

James cleared his throat and began to speak again. 'So, about your stepfather, you said he used to shout at you when you were younger did that happen a lot?'

'Yes, if he wasn't shouting at me when he was drunk then he would hit me or just lock me in this tiny closet that was under the stairs.' Replied Matt.

'This closet,' asked James 'How big do you think it was?'

'I'm not sure but it was quite small around just under five foot by two foot by the time I was older I couldn't stand up in it I used to just curl up in the corner as far away from the door as I could get.' Elaborated Casey, 'There was a deadbolt on the outside of the door and there was only ever light coming in from the tiny slit in the bottom of the floor between the ground and the foot of the door, but after being stuck in there long enough by eyes started adjusting to the light.'

'What was the longest amount of time that you were ever kept in the closet without being let out?' asked James.

'Usually I would be in the for around twenty four hours or a day. I'm not sure how long the longest time was. I think it might have been after my stepdad lost his job for the second time and there wasn't any beer left in the house so he had already been really pissed off. That was when I had just turned seven shortly after my mother went to prison and my dad died, my sister had just gone back to college, I think. after he got home he beat me up really badly, he was so angry and I couldn't get him off me, so he re-broke my wrist and a couple of my ribs and then he locked be back into the closet.' Explained Matt 'By that time my sister was halfway around the country, far from home at university, she had left when she was eighteen to go to college and before that she had gotten to chose to live with my dad instead of with me, Callum and my mother. Usually when I was trapped in the closet for longer than three days whilst she was still around she would come over and Callum would let me out of there, but she wasn't there anymore so I was in there for a while.'

'How long would you call a while, Lieutenant?' asked James not even sure if he really wanted to hear the answer.

'Around five days, I think.' Replied Matt. 'I'm not sure I couldn't really tell.'

'Do you remember how you got out of there?' probed James.

'Yeah, I think that dad had left the house after the third day I was stuck in the closet. I guess he got bored after I stopped bothering to shout at him to let me out or he just went to buy some beer. But wherever he went he didn't come back for me, by the fourth day that I was stuck in there I spent most of the time slipping in and out of consciousness until I guess the neighbours got worried that they hadn't seen me or they had heard me shouting or something because that was when, Mary, my social worker turned up at the house.' Explained Matt. 'I don't remember everything about that day. But I remember the front door opening and I thought it was my stepfather so I tried not to make any noise, I didn't want to make him any angrier than I had already made him. The next thing I remember is Mary opening the door but I still thought it was my dad so I tried to stay away from the door. When the door was opened the light was so bright that I couldn't see any more and I don't remember much after that over than Mary picking me up and taking me out of the house. After that all I can remember is waking up in the hospital later with a cast on my arm and then being interviewed by Mary about my dad and then that was when I met her husband, John Scott, who ended up being my foster father for a while with Mary being my foster mother. He was the only male adult that I had ever met that hadn't tried to hurt me or get something from me.'

'How long did you live with Mary for?' questioned James.

'I think it was around three months that I lived with them before they put me back in the care of my father.' Replied Matt. 'Those three months were probably the best of my life, then after the hostage situation a few weeks ago we kinda renewed our relationship. I hadn't seen her since I was around sixteen, but I saw her again before Callum came around the second time. The kid I was adopting, Jack, turned out to be one of her new foster kids.'

'Thanks, Lieutenant Casey.' Finished James. 'I think that is all the prosecution needs to hear from you for now, we will probably call you up again later after we have talked to Mary.'


	13. Chapter 13 - The Trial

**Hey guys sorry about last week got very busy again, if I ever miss an update day again feel free to bombard me with messages until I update. Anyways I don't have anything on this week so now I can start writing again yay! warning: descriptions of abuse.**

'Does the defence have any questions?' asked the judge looking pointedly at the worn out public defender at the bench sitting beside an angry looking Callum. The lawyer looked as though he had completely given up on getting his client any sympathy from the jury and had resigned himself to Callum getting the guilty verdict he deserved, and to be honest by now he didn't exactly want his client to walk free anymore, not after what he had done to the kid under his care, even if it gave him a bad reputation for not defending his clients properly he didn't care, he just wanted to see this bastard go down for what he had done.

The public defender shook his head not wanting to question the young man before him whose hands were already shaking at having to reveal his tortured past to a room filled with strangers and more importantly some of his best friends and his bosses. Everyone could tell that he was scared that they wouldn't look at him the same way anymore and that they would see him as being weak. He hated it when people found out about his past and always looked at him differently, with pity in their eyes as if he was so fragile that he would shatter into pieces from even the slightest touch and at any moment.

'The prosecution would like to call its next witness,' announced James, sure in himself that he was going to be able to prosecute the criminal sat before him, 'Mary Jane Scott.'

Mary nervously made her way up to the stand but secretly confident that maybe this time she could put away the horrible man who had haunted her dreams for months after she had met his young stepson.

'So, Mary can you tell us about what happened on the day that you met Matthew Casey when he was seven?' asked James.

'I had first heard about Matt when he was five after his third visit to the emergency room in as many months. However, his stepfather had him discharged from the hospital before I could do anything about getting him out of the house, or talk to him and it kept happening in the same way until the incident when he was seven. We got a call from his neighbours about a domestic disturbance, they said that they had heard him screaming and shouting for help sporadically over the past five days, it had happened before but this time I wanted to make sure that we actually got him out of the house this time. I called in a team of armed police officers so that we could get Mr Henderson arrested if he was actually there, but when nobody responded after we knocked on the door we were forced to knock it down to get in the house. We searched the whole house but we couldn't find a sign of him not even a book or a toy in sight, the house was messy there were beer bottles and stubbed out cigarettes everywhere, next to takeaway boxes and dirty dishes but there were no indicators of a kid ever having lived there. That was when I found the closet in the back of the house, it was a very small cupboard and there was a deadbolt lock on the front of it, it set my alarm bell ringing and that was when I knew that that was where he was going to be if we could find him at all. When I opened the door I saw him hiding in the back of the closet, he was curled up in the corner and when the light from the hallway flooded the cupboard and hit him he tried to get himself even further away from me into the closet. He was trying to hide away from me, I could tell that he was terrified and that he had no idea what was going on or what would happen to him if he trusted me and let me take him away. He was just so little, he was way too tiny for being seven years old, he was thin and had never gotten enough food and so he hadn't grown properly, he was about the size of a five or six year old. His whole body was marred with bruises and scars, I could tell that one of his wrists was broken because it was swollen and misshapen. To be honest I was genuinely worried that he wasn't going to survive the night if we couldn't get him to the hospital quickly enough. Whilst he was in there he was clutching this tiny little, red toy fire truck as if it was his most prized possession, I think it was the only thing in the world that was his and only his, that little toy meant everything because it was all he had left of having a childhood. He told me that his real father had given it to him on the day that he was born and it was all he had left of him, his stepfather had taken away all the pictures of them as a family. Without his sister or his father there was no-one to look after him and protect him from Mr Henderson. The one person he was supposed to be able to rely on to help him after his mother had killed his father, had hurt him so badly that he almost died and then he had abandoned him in a closet to die slowly and painfully which is exactly what would have happened if we hadn't found him when he did. I sat there with him talking to him until I could persuade him to go with me and the paramedics to the hospital, I picked him up and carried him out of the house and he was so light and he didn't let go of me the whole way there and even when I interviewed him about Callum it took me quite a long time to get him to talk, when he did finally manage it some of the things that he told me haunted me for months and years after the actual fact.' Finished Mary.


	14. Chapter 14 - The Tape

'Your, honour,' started James 'the prosecution would like to enter into evidence the aforementioned tape.'

The judge nodded in agreement.

'This tape was recorded at Lakeshore hospital in Chicago. The interview was conducted by social worker Mary Jane Scott and the victim being interviewed was Lieutenant Matthew Casey at this time known as Matthew Henderson, aged seven. This evidence was intended to be presented in the original trial of the defendant Callum Henderson which never took place.' Stated James for the benefit of the jury.

A court marshal took the tape from James and placed it in the television which had been set up at the front of the courtroom.

The screen lit up and the image of a blank looking interview room emerged on the scene, the only objects present in the room were one table and two metal chairs one of which was occupied by a small boy who was curled up in an even smaller ball, his knees tucked into his chest his thin arms wrapped around them with his toy truck clutched in his hands, his legs tucked between into his chest and his knees touching his chin, tufts of dirty blond hair the only part of his head visible parts of which were matted with dried blood. As Mary entered the room Matt curled himself up into an even smaller ball as if he was trying to disappear into the chair.

'Hello Matthew, my name is Mary Jane Scott, I'm your social worker.' Said Mary, speaking softly to the boy as though he was a wounded animal that needed saving. 'Can you tell me why we had to bring you into the emergency room today?'

Mary received no reply so she continued with he gentle questioning 'The people who live next door to you told me that they heard you crying and shouting for help from their house. Why did you need help Matthew?' asked Mary again, after receiving nothing more than silence for the second time she tried again 'Okay then Matthew, can you tell me why you ended up in the closet, who put you in there, was it your stepfather, Callum?' after her third question went unanswered Mary began to worry that maybe the unresponsive boy before her may in fact actually be unconscious. She reached over and tapped him on the shoulder, but she soon realised that the boy was not unconscious, as soon as Mary had touched Matt he flinched away from her violently, as he did this he was forced to uncurled himself from his coiled position on the chair and his face was revealed to the camera.

The audience in the court room sat in shocked silence as they saw the face of the young boy on the screen. Matthew's face was covered in bruises, a black eye marred the skin covering most of the right side of the kid's face, his lip was split and there was a stitched up cut running along his right cheek that looked like it would surely leave a scar.

'I'm sorry,' mumbled Matt in a whispered voice almost too quietly to be heard.

Mary's heart broke at the sight of the young fragile boy before her, begging for forgiveness.

'It's ok Matthew, I'm sure you didn't do anything wrong.' Replied Mary trying to comfort the now crying boy before her. 'I was just checking to make sure that you were okay. Do you think you can help me answer some questions about what happened today?'

Matt shook his head vigorously not wanting to reveal what had happened, he knew that his stepfather would be even more angry than he already was if he did. Seeing that Matthew wouldn't open up that was Mary tried a new tactic to try to get the small child to trust her and hopefully reveal what had happened to him.

'Are you hungry Matthew?' asked Mary softly, hoping to win the boy's trust that way. 'Do you want me to get you something to eat?' Matthew's eyes lit up after he heard this, not wanting to pass up on food in case he didn't get the chance to get eat anything any time soon. He hadn't gotten anything to eat since his new daddy had locked him in the closet and by now he was very hungry. Even though he was still scared that it might be some sort of trick that the lady before him was playing on him, he nodded his head tentatively in the hopes of getting to eat something before Callum turned up and took him away again.

Mary left the room and returned ten minutes later with a cheeseburger and fries from the cafeteria along with a bottle of water. Mary saw Matt's bright blue eyes that had previously looked empty, hollow and tortured light up at the sight of the food. Despite this he made no movement to reach for the food that was being offered to him, Matt restrained himself from grabbing the food before him hungrily for fear of the repercussions.

'It's okay Matthew, go ahead. Nobody is going to take it away from you, it's yours.' said Mary desperately urging the little boy before her to eat the food.

Within five minutes of reaching for it Matt had devoured the food before him, his actions were worrying Mary who was now concerned about how long it had been since little Matthew had gotten anything to eat.

'Matthew, do you think that you can answer some of my questions now?' asked Mary. After receiving a tentative nod from the small child she continued with her soft questioning. 'Can you tell me when you last got given anything to eat?'

The seven year old boy shrugged, unsure of how he was meant to reply without getting a punishment dished out at him by Callum, 'I don't know.' answered Matt in a shy, almost inaudible voice.

'Was it before you ended up in the closet?' asked Mary, Casey nodded in reply 'How long ago was that, Matt?'

'Callum put me in there on Monday, he left on Wednesday, I don't know where he went. Sorry I didn't mean to say it wrong…I'm sorry I promise I won't do it again.' Apologised Matthew profusely.

'What do you mean? You didn't say anything wrong.' Mary reassured Matt.

'I'm not allowed to call him Callum,' explained Matt. 'He said I have to call him daddy. But he's not my daddy, my real daddy is dead, my mommy killed him, it was my fault.'


	15. Chapter 15 - The Interview

**Hey everyone I know I said we would be back to the normal schedule now but I'm going away for the week. Don't worry I'll be back on sunday (my birthday so try not to hate me too much) and I can hopefully post then hope you enjoy this chapter anyway!**

'Well, whilst you're here you can call him Callum, you don't have to call him daddy any more, if you don't want to. Why do you think it was your fault?' asked Mary confused, having been previously brought up to date about how the young boy's father had died and not seeing any way that it could have been his fault in the murder case.

'I don't know.' Shrugged Matt anxiously. 'Callum told me that I was the reason my daddy is dead and my mom is prison, they couldn't cope with being around me anymore so that's why it happened.'

'Trust me Matt, none of this was your fault.' Assured Mary. 'Not what happened to your parents or what Callum did to you, none of it is your fault, you did nothing wrong in this situation. Okay?'

Matt nodded slowly still not quite understanding how it wasn't his fault. When he started living with Callum everything that happened to the family ended up being his fault and he had just had to learn to take it.

'Can you tell me what happened before Callum put you in the closet?' asked Mary tenderly.

'Callum lost his job on Monday and he said it was my fault. He came into my room at night and he woke me up…' said Matt his speech trailing off as he remembered what had happened.

'How did he wake you up?' inquired Mary in a concerned tone of voice.

'He hit me, he hit my face and dragged me into his room. I tried to stop him, I don't like his room, he said I had to be punished for making him lose his job. He said it was time for us to play the game.' Stuttered Matt.

'What game is that?' questioned Mary worried by what she would hear back from the terrified child.

'He touches me and he makes me touch him, he says it's a game but I don't like it. It's not fun, games are supposed to be fun. At school they said that people aren't allowed to touch you down there, but Callum did. He said that all daddies played the game with their sons but my real daddy never did that.' Explain Matt, voice breaking as he did this. 'I don't like playing that game. It hurts and I don't want to play it anymore.'

'What happens when you play the game?' asked Mary.

'He comes into my room, at night. He makes me take off my pyjamas and if I don't then he takes them off me anyway, then he takes off his clothes and he makes me touch him, down there. And then he touches me too, I tried to make him stop, I really did…' cried Matt with tears flooding down his face from his ocean blue eyes. 'But if I don't do what he wants me to do he hits me and sometimes he ties me down to the bed and makes me do it anyway, he takes his penis and he puts it in me and he puts it in and out. He says it makes him feel good and tells me that he knows that I really like it but I don't, I don't like it, I just want him to stop…' trails off Matt, his salty tears streaming down his face as he stops talking ashamed by what he was saying.

'It's okay Matt,' said Mary resisting the urge to burst into tears and throw up in the trash can, disturbed by what the young boy had been through. 'I promise it's going to be okay, together we can make him stop.'

'That's what daddy said before…before he died.' Stuttered Matt in reply.

'Did you tell daddy about Callum?' asked Mary confused to hear that the boy's own father had known. 'What happened when you told daddy?'

'Daddy asked me if Callum ever hurt me. He said I had to tell him the truth so I did. He promised me that I could go and live with him and that he'd make it stop and everything would be okay.' Started Matt his voice cracking as he thought about his father. 'But then him and mommy started shouting at each other on the phone. Then mommy went out and she killed daddy.'

'I'm sorry Matthew, but I promise everything is going to be okay now.' Said Mary trying to reassure the betrayed child. 'I need you to tell me how many times Callum made you play that game.'

'Every day since he got married to mommy. Sometimes he made me play it with his friends, he would wake me up and let his friends come into my room, they would tie me down and make me play games with them.' Explained Matt, trembling as he recalled the events.

'Thank you for telling me Matt, you've been very brave for me.' Said Mary 'I don't think I need to ask you any more hard questions for now. We have to stay here for a little while longer so that Dr James can check on your arm.'

'Okay.' Answered Matt picking up his toy fire truck from his lap and picking it up, playing with it on the table.

'Who gave you the fire truck Matthew?' asked Mary gently trying to find a point of conversation.

'Daddy gave it to me, he said I could be a fire-fighter when I'm older.' Replied Matt his eyes lighting up when he talked about being a fire-fighter.

'Is that what you want to be when you grow up?' inquired Mary.

'Yeah, I'm gonna be a fire-fighter.' Said Matt flashing a gap-toothed smile at the woman proud of his ambition.

Boden and Severide smiled at hearing the young Casey saying that as the tape ended. The television screen went black and leaving the whole jury in shocked silence, the jurors looked stunned at having heard a young child describe being sexually abused by his stepfather and his sick friends.


	16. Chapter 16 - The Father

**Sorry guys I know I said this would be up when I got back on sunday but as it turns out when I was gone my family switched out internet provider or something like that so I only got my wifi back about an hour ago so this is the first thing I did. Anyway hope you enjoy this and please remember to review it means a lot and I kinda need some reassurance that I should keep writing cause I don't have much I've already written left and I do have a new idea that may lead to around 10 more chapters after the stuff I already have…anyway here you go **

'So, Mary.' Started James. 'Could you state for the jury what happened after this tape was recorded.'

'The case against Mr Callum Henderson was started and there was a trial underway. In the three months before the trial was due to happen Matthew stayed with me whilst the police searched for his stepfather. Mr Henderson had not been seen since the last time he had been near Matthew. He was located after three months, he was found over one hundred miles away and brought back to Chicago. But then the case stalled, the trial was a disaster. I was later informed that Mr Henderson's connections in the legal system and the police department had allowed him to blackmail people higher up than me in the system, the trial ended with the judge overriding the jury's guilty verdict and sending Matthew back to his stepfather's home. From there I was removed from the case and did not see him again until I finally got into contact with him when he was sixteen, he told me he was still living with Callum but in Michigan and that he was waiting until he finished high school and then he was going to run away to his sister's house back in Chicago and join the fire department.' Explained Mary sadly. 'But then I didn't get to see him again until a few weeks ago. I went to his fire house to pick up a four year old boy who had been found in a house fire and brought there. It ended up being that Lieutenant Casey was the fire-fighter who rescued him and has now adopted him.'

As he heard this it became clear to Callum that no-one on the jury was going to believe him, especially not after they had heard that he had beaten a child who had become a hero fire-fighter and adopted one of the children that he had rescued.

'Thank you Mary.' Finished James. 'You can step down now. The prosecution would now like to recall the key witness Lieutenant Matthew Casey.'

Matt made his way up to the stand passing Mary and pulling her into a hug on the way there.

'Thank you Lieutenant Casey for coming back up here.' Said James. 'Now I know this is difficult for you but we need you to elaborate on some of the issues raised on the tape. Is that okay with you?'

'Yes, it's okay.' Agreed Matt.

'In the tape you told Mary that you had told your father about the sexual and physical abuse before he died. Can you elaborate on that?' asked James, trying to reveal the situation to the jury.

'Well my father came over to Callum and my mother's house once when I was six and he started asking me about what Callum was doing…' Matt spiralled back into a flashback from when he had told his father about the abuse he had suffered.

_Start of flashback_

While Callum was out at work, Matt's father Gregory was sitting on the living room floor with his son, the two of them were playing with the toy fire truck and some other plastic toy cars his father had brought over to the house having noticed on his last visit that his little boy didn't seem to have any toys or books.

After a half an hour of playing with his son Gregory had worked up the courage to ask his son questions he needed to know the answers to regarding the boy's new stepfather.

'Buddy I need to ask you something, and I want you to answer me completely honestly can you do that?' Matt nodded his head looking up at his father with admiration in his eyes, staring at the man he saw as his main role model who had inspired him to be a fire-fighter.

'Ok good boy, has Callum ever hurt you in any way?' asked Gregory his concern evident in his voice.

Matthew began to shake his head furiously but Gregory could tell that his son, the boy that he had raised from when he was a baby, was too scared to tell him what was really going on.

'Matt please, just tell me the truth, if he's doing anything to you, you can tell me anything. I promise buddy, I can make him stop.' Said Greg begging his son to reveal what was really happening.

Slowly Matt opened his mouth to speak. 'He hits me, and he burns me with his cigarettes and he hits me with his belt. He hurts me daddy, I just want him to stop.'

'I'm sorry buddy, it's going to be okay now I promise kid. Did he do anything else buddy, did he touch you anywhere you didn't want him to? I know it's hard but I need you to tell me.'

'He comes into my room at night, he touches me down there and he makes me touch him too. He puts it in me and makes me play games with him and his friends. They tie me up and they make me play with them. I don't like playing with them daddy, he calls it a game but I don't like it daddy it's not fun, games are supposed to be fun.' Sobbed the small boy his body racked with sobs as he told his father about the torture he had endured.

Matt was pulled into a strong embrace from his father who held him whilst he cried. Gregory's whole body was filled with rage as he heard his tiny son tell him about how he had been sexually abused and tortured by a man who had the nerve to call himself a stepfather, when he hadn't done anything to come close to deserving the title.

'Daddy.' says Matt quietly looking up at his father.

'Yeah buddy.' answered Gregory.

'Will you make him stop. Please Daddy, I want him to stop' begged Matt with tears streaming down his face.

'I promise you buddy, he'll never hurt you again. Daddy's here nobody is going to hurt you now,' said Gregory hugging his son tighter into his chest, but in return he felt his son violently try to flinch away from him and wince in pain as he did so. 'Matt, buddy I need you to show me what Greg did. Do you have any bruises on you?'

Matt shrugged, reluctant to reveal the scars that marred his skin even to his father, not wanting to have his hero look at him differently when he found out that he was just as weak as Callum had always said he was.

'Please buddy, I need you to show me. I promise bud, nothing you could do would ever make me stop loving you, just show me what he did. I only want to help you make it stop.' Begged Gregory needing to help his son and knowing that this was the only way he could prove it. 'Here buddy, just let me take it off for you. I just need to see what happened, okay?'

Matt nodded in response and allowed his father to take off Matt's shirt for him, revealing to him his son's chest and back which were covered in bite marks, scars from belts, bruises and cigarette burns…

_End of flashback_


	17. Chapter 17 - The Friends

'Then he took me back to his house and I stayed the night there. The next morning I had to go back to Callum's house because my mother had custody of me after the divorce for that week. But before he left, my dad promised me that he would be back by the next day and have Callum arrested. However, he never got the chance; he was murdered by my mom the next night and after my mother went to prison Callum got full custody of me and I was forced to live with him until I was eighteen. He kept doing the same things he had always done.'

'You said in the tape and just now that Mr Henderson brought his friends over to the house and allowed them to sexually assault you. Could you tell the jury more about that?' asked James.

'Just after I turned five my stepfather starting bringing his friends over to the house.' Started Casey with his voice shaking. 'They would come into my bedroom in the middle of the night and they would pay Callum to have sex with me. I would hear them outside the door talking to him, he let them do whatever they wanted to me. When I was growing up my step-dad had a lot of friends who were just as sadistic as he was but none of them had any kids of their own, so they used to come round to use me as a punching bag whenever they wanted, they did the same sort of stuff that Callum always did to me. So when Callum started bragging about how he had raped me all of them were interested and that's when he started selling me off for sex to the highest bidder, I tried to get them to leave me alone and I tried to push them off of me, but I was only five so I couldn't stop them. One time when Greg sold me a guy who he let rape me the guy knocked out two of my teeth so he had to take me to our dentist and the doctor kept asking me what had happened so I figured I could trust him, but it turned out he was one of Greg's sick friends too and he took me back to his house and he started beating me and telling me how stupid I was for trusting him, so I stopped trying to fight them all off. He kept bringing them round until I was eighteen and I ran away to my sister's house, the last time he let one of his friends rape me was three months before I left, on my eighteenth birthday. One of his closest friends came over, he had been around and done it before but this time it was different. When I came home from school I went into my room and he was already waiting there for me on the mattress in my room, by then I had stopped trying to fight off all the men that came over but when he got on top of me I looked over into the corner of the room and I realised that he was filming it. There was a camera set up in the corner of the room and I just got so angry about it and everything that I had built up inside of me over all those years just exploded. I just couldn't do it anymore…'

'What do you mean by that lieutenant?' asked James shocked by the honesty in his witness' statement. 'I know this is hard but we need to know what happened.'

'Like I said all of my anger just came out and I just started hitting him over and over again. I thought that if I could get rid of this guy maybe Callum would stop bringing them around, but it didn't happen that way. Instead my stepdad stormed into the room and the two of them just kept beating me until I couldn't fight back anymore, then when they were bored with beating me they tied me to the bed and took turns raping me for what felt like hours. By the time they were finished they had broken three ribs, my left arm and I had a punctured lung too, I spent two weeks in the hospital trying to recover and then I went back to Callum's house and stayed until I finished high school but after that he never brought around any more of his friends.' Finished Casey, by the time he was done tears were running down his face and the faces of many of the men and women of the jury.

The courtroom sat in a shocked silence as the lieutenant finished speaking and stepped down from the stand, walking down to the benches and ignoring the long, hard stare he was receiving from Callum before seating himself beside Kelly and accepting a warm embrace before letting the tears run freely.

Breaking the silence James stood and spoke. 'The prosecution has no further witnesses. I rest my case.'

'Does the defence have anything to add?' asked the judge.

The worn out defence lawyer only shook his head in reply despite the angered look he was receiving from his outraged client.

'We shall adjourn for the jury to reach their verdict, sentencing will commence in one hour.' Stated the judge knowing his verdict already and having resigned himself to dishing out the longest sentence he could.


End file.
